Bioc 218 – Winter 2014 a Critical Review of Single-cell Rna Sequencing-based Genetic Profiling for Human Embryos

Motivation Embryonic development is a highly complex process that requires precise spatial and temporal regulations. Through the preimplantation stages, single-cell zygotes undergo drastic gene expression changes to form multicellular blastocysts. Proper blastocyst formation is crucial to the success of fetus development, as poor blastocyst quality often lead to failure in post-in vitro fertilization (IVF) implantation. The process of blastocyst outgrowth to derive human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) also requires unique transition at the transcriptome level. The ability of hESCs to differentiate into different cell lineages enables them to serve as promising tools for organ reconstruction and tissue engineering. Thus, characterizing the genetic signatures of hESCs and cells across different preimplantation stages is not only critical to better understand the embryonic development but also impactful for the current IVF processes and regenerative medicine as a whole.